Ipamorelin Dosage Guide: Essential Protocols, Units and Timing
Reviewed by
Brandon Johnson — Certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach & Peptide Research Consultant
Brandon Johnson is a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and peptide research consultant with a background in kinesiology and over 15 years of experience in fitness and wellness. He reviews all PSPeptides educational content for scientific accuracy and practical relevance.
ipamorelin dosage in research protocols falls between 100 and 300 mcg per subcutaneous injection, given one to three times a day on an empty stomach, with 200 to 300 mcg once nightly the single most common pattern.
Ipamorelin dosage in research protocols falls between 100 and 300 mcg per subcutaneous injection, given one to three times a day on an empty stomach, with 200 to 300 mcg once nightly the single most common pattern. Those numbers come from the pharmacology of a ghrelin-receptor agonist that saturates its receptor at roughly 1 mcg per kilogram and clears from plasma with a half-life of about two hours.
Ipamorelin is a pentapeptide of about 711 Da that triggers a growth hormone pulse from the pituitary without the cortisol, ACTH or prolactin spillover of older GHRPs. Because that pulse peaks within an hour and is gone within three, the dose per injection matters less than when and how often the injection happens. This guide covers per-injection doses, mcg per day totals, injection timing, reconstitution and syringe units for both vial sizes PSPeptides sells.
The ipamorelin vial on our shelves comes in 5 mg and 10 mg sizes, each with a lot-numbered COA verifying 99%+ purity. Our ipamorelin research guide explains the compound’s history and mechanism; this page is the ipamorelin dosage reference, written for the solo peptide rather than the CJC-1295 blend.
Ipamorelin Dosage: The Numbers That Matter
Everything below expands on this ipamorelin dosage table. The dose range reflects protocols reported across the research community; the half-life and receptor figures come from the published human and animal pharmacology summarized in the next two sections.
| Parameter | Research value |
|---|---|
| Dose per injection | 100 to 300 mcg subcutaneous; 100 mcg is the saturation dose |
| Injections per day | 1 to 3; most protocols use 1 (bedtime) or 2 (waking and bedtime) |
| Total per day | 200 to 600 mcg; 300 mcg per day is the common midpoint |
| Route | Subcutaneous into abdominal or thigh fat; intramuscular offers no advantage |
| Ipamorelin injection timing | Fasted, ideally 30 to 60 minutes before sleep; no food for 1 to 2 hours before |
| Half-life | About 2 hours; GH peak 30 to 60 minutes after injection |
| Cycle length | 8 to 12 weeks, then a break of about 4 weeks |
| PSPeptides vial sizes | 5 mg ($39.99) and 10 mg ($49.99) |
| Product-page reconstitution | 5 mg + 2.5 mL bacteriostatic water = 2 mg/mL (200 mcg = 0.1 mL = 10 units) |
| Storage after reconstitution | Refrigerator (2 to 8 °C), away from light, for up to 28 days |
Ipamorelin dosage summary for solo subcutaneous research use.
How a Two-Hour Half-Life and a Pulsatile Receptor Shape the Schedule
Ipamorelin is an agonist at the growth hormone secretagogue receptor GHS-R1a, the receptor ghrelin uses to signal the pituitary. Binding triggers a burst of GH release rather than a sustained elevation, because the somatotrophs answer the receptor with a discrete pulse and then reset under somatostatin feedback. That biology is why no ipamorelin dosage protocol tries to keep plasma levels flat.
Gobburu and colleagues modeled the human pharmacokinetics in 1999 and reported an elimination half-life of roughly two hours, with the GH response lagging the plasma peak by a short interval. Five half-lives clear the peptide in about ten hours, so a bedtime injection is fully eliminated by morning and daily injections never accumulate. The peptide half-life chart places ipamorelin among the shortest-acting compounds on the site.
The practical consequence is that ipamorelin dosing is built around pulses, not exposure. Each injection buys one GH pulse lasting one to three hours; a second or third injection adds pulses, while doubling a single injection mostly adds side effects. That is why the frequency table later in this guide matters more than the dose column.
What Raun, Gobburu and Beck Measured, and What It Means per Kilogram
Ipamorelin’s data set is smaller than the GLP-1 peptides’ but unusually clean, because Novo Nordisk developed it around one question: could a GHRP release GH without releasing cortisol? The table lists the studies that anchor every ipamorelin dosage claim in this guide.
| Study | Model | Dose and route | Duration | Finding relevant to dosing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raun et al., 1998 | Rat pituitary cells, rats and swine | Dose-response series, IV and SC | Acute | GH release comparable in potency to GHRP-6, with no ACTH or cortisol rise at GH-releasing doses |
| Gobburu et al., 1999 | Healthy human volunteers | Intravenous, PK/PD modeling | Single dosing | Plasma half-life about 2 hours; GH response modeled as a pulse that returns to baseline |
| Johansen et al., 1999 | Young rats | Repeated SC dosing | About 2 weeks | Dose-dependent increase in longitudinal bone growth |
| Beck et al., 2014 | Adults after bowel resection (Phase 2) | 0.03 mg/kg IV twice daily | Up to 7 days | Well tolerated with an adverse-event profile similar to placebo; primary ileus endpoint not met |
Published ipamorelin studies that define the dosing evidence base.
The Raun paper is the one that separates ipamorelin from GHRP-2 and GHRP-6: at doses that released GH, it left ACTH and cortisol flat and did not raise prolactin either. Beck’s Phase 2 trial is the largest human exposure on record, and its 0.03 mg/kg intravenous dose is roughly 24 times a 100 mcg subcutaneous research dose, which puts the tolerability of research-scale ipamorelin dosage in perspective.
Per-kilogram framing also explains the “saturation dose.” Across the GHRP class, GH release plateaus at roughly 1 mcg/kg, so an 80 kg subject saturates the receptor near 80 mcg, and 100 mcg is the round number just above that threshold. Doses of 200 to 300 mcg lengthen the pulse and cover absorption variability, but they do not produce two or three times the GH.
| Reference point | Dose | Equivalent for an 80 kg subject | Ratio to a 100 mcg research dose |
|---|---|---|---|
| GHRP receptor saturation | About 1 mcg/kg | About 80 mcg | 0.8× |
| Standard research pulse | 100 mcg SC | 1.25 mcg/kg | 1× |
| Upper research dose | 300 mcg SC | 3.75 mcg/kg | 3× |
| Beck et al., 2014 | 0.03 mg/kg IV twice daily | 2,400 mcg per dose | 24× |
| Illustrative rat dose converted by the FDA method | 1 mg/kg in rats ÷ 6.2 = 0.16 mg/kg | About 12.9 mg | 129× |
Per-kilogram context for ipamorelin dosage, using the FDA body-surface-area conversion for the rodent example.
The rodent row is illustrative rather than a specific study dose; it shows why milligram-per-kilogram numbers from rat papers never transfer directly. The FDA guidance on estimating a starting dose divides rat doses by 6.2 and mouse doses by 12.3, and even after conversion the result sits two orders of magnitude above a research pulse.
Ipamorelin mcg per Day by Research Goal
Because each injection is one pulse, the meaningful variable is the ipamorelin mcg per day total and how it is spread across the day. Four patterns account for nearly every ipamorelin dosage protocol we see referenced, and each maps to a different research question.
| Pattern | Per injection | Injections and timing | Ipamorelin mcg per day | Typical research goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single nightly pulse | 200 to 300 mcg | 1, at bedtime fasted | 200 to 300 | Sleep architecture, recovery, first-time protocols |
| Twice daily | 100 to 200 mcg | 2: on waking and at bedtime | 200 to 400 | Body composition over 8 to 12 weeks |
| Three pulses | 100 mcg | 3: waking, post-exercise, bedtime | 300 | Maximum daily GH exposure with minimal side effects |
| Paired with CJC-1295 no DAC | 100 mcg each peptide | 1 to 3, same syringe | 100 to 300 | Amplified pulse (GHRH plus GHRP synergy) |
Frequency patterns and daily totals used in ipamorelin dosing protocols.
Sleep and overnight recovery
The largest natural GH pulse occurs during the first period of slow-wave sleep, and a 200 to 300 mcg ipamorelin dosage 30 to 60 minutes before bed is timed to land on top of it. This is the pattern in most sleep and recovery designs and the lowest-burden protocol: one injection, one vial lasting weeks. Our guide to peptides for sleep and recovery covers how it is combined with DSIP and similar compounds.
Body-composition studies
Protocols measuring fat mass and lean mass generally use two or three 100 to 200 mcg pulses per day for 8 to 12 weeks, because IGF-1 output tracks cumulative daily GH exposure rather than the height of one pulse. These designs almost always add a GHRH analog; the CJC-1295 and ipamorelin growth hormone guide explains why the two receptors together outperform either alone.
Gastrointestinal motility models
Beck’s Phase 2 program dosed ipamorelin intravenously at 0.03 mg/kg twice daily after bowel surgery. Subcutaneous research designs in this area typically use 100 to 200 mcg two or three times daily before meals, to model the prokinetic ghrelin signal.
Bone and connective-tissue work
The rat bone-growth data used repeated daily subcutaneous dosing over roughly two weeks. Research protocols extrapolating from that work run the standard 100 to 300 mcg pulses for a full 12-week cycle, since bone-turnover markers respond slowly.
Reconstitution and Insulin-Syringe Units for the 5 mg and 10 mg Vials
Ipamorelin reconstitution is where a 200 mcg protocol quietly becomes a 400 mcg protocol, because the same 10 units means different things at different concentrations. Our product page uses 2.5 mL of bacteriostatic water for the 5 mg vial, giving 2 mg/mL, and the table shows that convention alongside three alternatives.
| Vial and water | Concentration | 100 mcg | 200 mcg | 300 mcg | 200 mcg doses per vial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mg + 2 mL | 2.5 mg/mL (2,500 mcg/mL) | 0.04 mL = 4 units | 0.08 mL = 8 units | 0.12 mL = 12 units | 25 |
| 5 mg + 2.5 mL (product convention) | 2 mg/mL (2,000 mcg/mL) | 0.05 mL = 5 units | 0.10 mL = 10 units | 0.15 mL = 15 units | 25 |
| 10 mg + 2 mL | 5 mg/mL (5,000 mcg/mL) | 0.02 mL = 2 units | 0.04 mL = 4 units | 0.06 mL = 6 units | 50 |
| 10 mg + 5 mL | 2 mg/mL (2,000 mcg/mL) | 0.05 mL = 5 units | 0.10 mL = 10 units | 0.15 mL = 15 units | 50 |
Ipamorelin reconstitution table: syringe units per dose on a U-100 insulin syringe for every PSPeptides vial size.
Two rows of the ipamorelin dosage table deserve comment. The 5 mg + 2 mL option makes 250 mcg an exact 10 units (0.1 mL), which some researchers prefer. The 10 mg + 2 mL option is too concentrated for precision: 100 mcg is only 2 units, so a one-unit reading error is a 50% dosing error. For the 10 mg vial, 5 mL recreates the 2 mg/mL convention and every dose lands on a whole-unit mark.
The procedure is simple but unforgiving of shortcuts. Bring the vial and the bacteriostatic water to room temperature, wipe both stoppers, and add the water slowly down the inside wall. Ipamorelin dissolves within about a minute with a gentle roll; shaking creates foam that traps peptide on the glass. Label the vial with the concentration and date immediately.
Each dose is drawn with a fresh U-100 insulin syringe, where a full 1 mL barrel holds 100 units, every 10 units is 0.1 mL, and 1,000 mcg (also written µg) make 1 mg. A 0.3 mL syringe with half-unit marks makes 5-unit and 15-unit doses easier to read than a full 1 mL barrel. The peptide calculator handles any vial, water and dose combination, and the how to reconstitute peptides guide shows every step.
Keeping the reconstituted vial potent
In lyophilized form, ipamorelin tolerates months of refrigeration at 2 to 8 °C and much longer in a −20 °C freezer, as long as it stays dark. After reconstitution it is stored upright in the refrigerator and used within 28 days, the limit of the water’s 0.9% benzyl alcohol preservative. A 5 mg vial at an ipamorelin dosage of 200 mcg nightly is finished in 25 days; a 10 mg vial at the same dose needs 50 days, so the 10 mg size suits twice-daily protocols.
Reconstituted peptide is never frozen and should not sit on a desk between injections. Sterile water without preservative is acceptable only for a single same-day dose. Cloudiness, visible particles or a yellow tint indicate degradation, and the vial is discarded rather than dosed higher to compensate.
Injection Timing, Cycle Length and Washout
Ipamorelin injection timing determines the size of the GH pulse more than the dose does. Elevated blood glucose and circulating fatty acids raise somatostatin tone and blunt pituitary GH release, so research protocols inject fasted: no carbohydrate or fat for one to two hours before, and nothing but water for 20 to 30 minutes after. A bedtime dose taken right after a late meal delivers a fraction of the pulse a fasted dose delivers.
The subcutaneous route into abdominal fat, an inch or more from the navel, or into the front of the thigh is standard. Intramuscular injection speeds absorption slightly but changes nothing about pulse height; our comparison of subcutaneous vs intramuscular peptide injection covers the evidence. Sites rotate so that no spot is used twice in a week.
Cycle length in ipamorelin dosage protocols runs 8 to 12 weeks followed by roughly four weeks off. The break is not about accumulation, since the peptide clears within ten hours; it is a precaution against receptor desensitization, documented most clearly for hexarelin and assumed possible for the GHRP class generally. Washout is measured in receptor recovery, not plasma clearance, and four weeks is the convention.
Side Effects and Safety Observations at Research Doses
The defining safety finding is the one Raun reported in 1998: ipamorelin released GH without raising ACTH, cortisol or prolactin at GH-releasing doses, in contrast to GHRP-6 and GHRP-2. That selectivity is the reason ipamorelin dosage protocols run for months where GHRP-6 protocols are limited by cortisol and hunger effects, a difference laid out in our ipamorelin vs GHRP-2 vs GHRP-6 comparison.
In Beck’s Phase 2 trial, adverse events with intravenous ipamorelin were comparable to placebo. At subcutaneous research doses, the effects reported most often are a brief head rush or flushing in the first 10 to 20 minutes, mild headache, transient lightheadedness, and redness at the injection site. Mild hunger can appear, though far less than with GHRP-6.
Dose dependence in ipamorelin dosage is straightforward. Below 100 mcg, subjects notice little. Between 100 and 300 mcg, flushing and headache scale with the dose while GH release does not, which is why the range stops at 300 mcg. Above that, protocols report water retention, tingling in the hands and joint stiffness, the classic signs of sustained GH and IGF-1 elevation.
Ipamorelin Stacks: CJC-1295 No DAC, the Blend and Sermorelin
A GHRH analog and a GHRP act on two different pituitary receptors, and together they release two to three times the GH of either alone. The standard research pairing is 100 mcg of CJC-1295 no DAC with 100 mcg of ipamorelin in the same syringe, one to three times daily, fasted. The GHRH analog’s half-life of about 30 minutes matches ipamorelin’s pulse window, which is why the two are dosed together.
Many researchers skip the mixing and use the pre-combined CJC-1295 and ipamorelin blend, which holds both peptides in a fixed ratio so one draw delivers both. Dosing of that product is covered in our CJC-1295 ipamorelin dosage guide; the solo ipamorelin dosage numbers on this page still apply to the ipamorelin fraction.
Sermorelin is the alternative GHRH partner, dosed at 200 to 500 mcg alongside 100 to 200 mcg of ipamorelin at bedtime; its 10-to-20-minute half-life makes it slightly less forgiving on timing. Oral MK-677 raises GH for 24 hours instead of in pulses; the MK-677 vs CJC-1295 ipamorelin analysis explains why the two are not interchangeable.
Ipamorelin Dosage Mistakes That Blunt the GH Pulse
The first mistake is the unit error: 0.2 mg is 200 mcg, but a researcher who reads “0.2” and draws 0.2 mL from a 2 mg/mL vial has injected 400 mcg. Doses are written in mcg and units, never in unlabeled decimals. The second is the concentration error, when 10 units from a 5 mg/mL vial (500 mcg) is treated as if it came from the 2 mg/mL vial (200 mcg).
The third mistake is dosing after food; a bedtime injection ten minutes after dessert releases a fraction of the GH a fasted injection would, and the protocol then looks like it failed. The fourth is chasing a bigger pulse with a bigger dose: 600 mcg does not double the GH of 300 mcg, it doubles the flushing. The fifth is dosing once a week, which delivers one pulse per week from a peptide gone in ten hours.
The sixth is running a 10 mg vial for 50 days at 200 mcg nightly, well past the 28-day preservative window. The seventh is skipping the label. The peptide dosage calculator walkthrough takes about a minute per vial and eliminates the first two errors entirely.
Purity Determines Whether 200 mcg Is Really 200 mcg
An ipamorelin dosage table assumes the vial contains what the label states. A 5 mg vial that assays at 4 mg turns a 200 mcg protocol into 160 mcg, and an impure sequence may not bind GHS-R1a at all. PSPeptides ipamorelin comes from US facilities that operate under cGMP guidelines; independent accredited laboratories test each lot for purity by HPLC and identity by mass spectrometry, and screen it for endotoxin, sterility, heavy metals and fentanyl.
The 5 mg vial is $39.99 and the 10 mg vial $49.99, each shipped free with same-day processing and a lot-numbered COA available on the certifications page. Checkout takes cards, Afterpay and Klarna, and any lot that falls below 99% purity is replaced at no charge.
Further Reading
For additional peer-reviewed research, see: FDA guidance on estimating a starting dose.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many units is 200 mcg of ipamorelin?
At the product-page concentration of 2 mg/mL (5 mg vial + 2.5 mL water, or 10 mg + 5 mL), 200 mcg is 0.1 mL, which reads 10 on a U-100 insulin syringe; the same dose is 8 units at 2.5 mg/mL and 4 units at 5 mg/mL. The concentration is always written on the vial.
How many mcg of ipamorelin per day do research protocols use?
Daily totals run from 200 mcg (one bedtime injection) to about 600 mcg (three 200 mcg pulses). The most common ipamorelin mcg per day figure is 300, delivered as a single 300 mcg dose at night or as three 100 mcg pulses. Larger single doses do not increase the GH pulse proportionally.
How long does a 5 mg vial of ipamorelin last?
At 200 mcg once nightly, a 5 mg vial holds 25 doses and lasts 25 days, inside the 28-day window for reconstituted peptide. At 300 mcg nightly it lasts 16 days, and at 100 mcg twice daily it also lasts 25 days. The 10 mg vial doubles each figure.
Does ipamorelin have to be injected at night?
No, but bedtime is the highest-yield ipamorelin injection timing because it coincides with the natural slow-wave-sleep GH pulse and the subject is reliably fasted. Morning injections on an empty stomach and post-exercise injections are common second and third pulses. What cannot be skipped in any ipamorelin dosage schedule is the fasted state.
What happens if an ipamorelin dose is missed?
Nothing needs to be corrected. The peptide clears within hours, so there is no accumulation to preserve, and the next scheduled injection is taken normally. Doubling the next dose only doubles side effects, because a single injection cannot deliver two pulses.
References
- Raun K, Hansen BS, Johansen NL, et al. Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue. Eur J Endocrinol. 1998;139(5):552-561. PubMed
- Gobburu JV, Agersø H, Jusko WJ, Ynddal L. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of ipamorelin, a growth hormone releasing peptide, in human volunteers. Pharm Res. 1999;16(9):1412-1416. PubMed
- Johansen PB, Nowak J, Skjaerbaek C, et al. Ipamorelin, a new growth-hormone-releasing peptide, induces longitudinal bone growth in rats. Growth Horm IGF Res. 1999;9(2):106-113. PubMed
- Beck DE, Sweeney WB, McCarter MD; Ipamorelin 201 Study Group. Prospective, randomized, controlled, proof-of-concept study of the ghrelin mimetic ipamorelin for the management of postoperative ileus in bowel resection patients. Int J Colorectal Dis. 2014;29(12):1527-1535. PubMed
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